BOULDER, Colo. — Wayne Morgan knew exactly what his ISU basketball team faced at Colorado.

“It was a critical, key game,” Morgan said. “We needed to have this game.”

Thanks to a strong second half, the Cyclones got it. Curtis Stinson scored 22 points and handed out seven assists and Iowa State kept its NCAA tournament aspirations alive with a 78-73 victory over Colorado on Saturday.

Will Blalock and Tasheed Carr added 20 points each for Iowa State (17-10, 9-7 Big 12), a tournament bubble team with a 71 RPI. The Cyclones shot 56 percent in the second half after a dismal first half to win for the ninth time in 11 games.

The 9-7 Big 12 record is Iowa State’s best since it won the conference championship in 2001 with a 13-3 mark. The Cyclones started league play 0-5.

“I feel we are already worth of a bid,” said Stinson, who scored 14 points in the second half. “I think we won enough games to be in the NCAA, but we can’t demand anybody to give us that.”

Carr, a freshman, went 5-for-6 on 3-pointers and had five of Iowa State’s 15 steals. Damion Staple gave the Cyclones a big lift with six points, 14 rebounds and four steals, while Jared Homan added eight points and 10 rebounds.

Iowa State will be the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament and plays Baylor in the first round on Thursday in Kansas City.

Andy Osborn hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for Colorado (13-15, 4-12). The Buffaloes ended the regular season with a five-game losing streak, finishing ahead of only Baylor in the Big 12.

Morgan said he appealed to his team at halftime to turn it up in the second half.

“I told them at halftime that this game was going to come down to how big their heart was and how much guts they had and that’s all this team was about,” Morgan said.

“If they had any guts and heart, there was 20 minutes left and I basically told them that every line drill we have run, every shooting drill we have done has boiled down to these 20 minutes.

The Cyclones responded, forcing three turnovers and an airball from Colorado on its first four possessions of the half. Blalock countered with three outside jumpers for six points on the offensive end.

Baskets by Staple and Stinson put Iowa State ahead 46-41 with 13:17 left after Blalock’s eight points helped erase the Cyclones’ five-point halftime deficit.

In its last two games, Iowa State has 39 assists, 27 steals and only 16 turnovers.